


Seven Mistakes

by imagineagreatadventure



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - TiMER Fusion, Based off the film Timer, F/M, Meet-Cute, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10046387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagineagreatadventure/pseuds/imagineagreatadventure
Summary: When Brienne receives a Timer as a gift from her Father, she is excited to see that she'll meet her soulmate in only a week.At least she's excited until she meets him.~For JBO Meet-Cute March Fest





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first gift to JBO Meet-Cute MarchFest. Wrote this on a whim so I don't think it's my best work, but I think it's still pretty fun. Enjoy!

There was no way around it.

Her father looked much too excited for her to say no. 

As much as she desperately wanted to deny him, she couldn’t.

“A Timer, Brienne!” he said, pulling her into the store, where beautiful women and unattractive men lurked inside. Their smiles were hesitant as they spoke to the salespeople. Brienne knew the feeling. “You’ll know exactly when you’ll meet your match.”

The truth wasn’t said. With the Timer, she’d find out if she had a match at all.

If she had a soulmate.

* * *

The first time she saw a Timer was when she was 14. Her father had bought one for himself, brilliantly smiling at the idea he could still have a soulmate after his wife’s passing.

He came home with a frown.

His Timer wouldn’t go off for 30 more years.

It took a while for her father to grow used to the idea he had 30 years, 6 days, and 17 hours before he’d meet the love of his life. But when he did, he succumbed to dating every woman he could, which usually consisted of women who also had Timers. Timers with dates very far in the future. Mrs. Roelle, a family friend of Brienne’s mother, said that he was going after wild fish while he could. 

Brienne did not like this imagery. It made her never want to eat fish again.

In any case, the idea of a Timer hadn’t grown on her since her father bought his twelve years before. This was despite the fact literally 1 out of 2 people in the city of King’s Landing over the age of 16 had a Timer. It was often a birthday gift for sweet sixteens and graduation presents for college kids. 

For some it confirmed what they already knew. 

This was the case of Brienne’s friends Renly and Loras who, upon the implantation of the Timer on their wrist, met eyes and immediately the Timers went off. 

For others it was a short wait to see that it was someone they never would have expected. This made Brienne believe that there was nothing scientific about the device at all, despite what its makers would have you believe. It was all confirmation bias or placebo or...  _ something _ !

How else could you explain her neighbors Roose and Walda hooking up? How in the world were they soulmates? They were more than opposites!

Brienne was very skeptical of the whole Timer...  _ thing  _ and tried to explain this to her father at every opportunity.

Not that it worked.

Her father took her into the store one day, sat her down by the chair, and insisted she accept the Timer as a gift from him to her. “I can afford it,” he said, as the saleslady looked back and forth between them nervously.

_And that’s when Brienne made her first mistake._ “Fine,” she said, tired of the years of arguments. “Let’s get this over with.”

* * *

_The second mistake was getting excited when the Timer said it only had a week before it went off._

Her father was thrilled. “Only a week before you meet the perfect man for you!”

The saleslady was more pragmatic. “Sometimes you don’t get along with your perfect...  _ person _ ... right away. It took me and my wife three months to like each other let alone love each other. So don’t take it too hard if it doesn’t work out right away.”

Brienne tried to heed the saleslady’s advice, she tried to simmer down the beating heart inside her chest, but she just couldn’t! 

She actually had a true love. Someone out there loved her.

She always thought she’d be a person with a blank Timer. 

But she didn’t.

She had a week.

* * *

“Have you met the new boss yet?” Hyle asked her Monday morning. “He’s supposed to be checking into all of the departments sometime this week.”

“No, not yet,” Brienne said, trying to focus on the database instead of Hyle’s terrible morning breath. “I’m not really worried about it either, my department is doing great according to Catelyn.”

Hyle shook his head. “I’d be prepared for something a little different than Catelyn Stark’s management style. It’s amazing her and the new guy are about the same age and yet totally different.”

“You and I are around the same age and completely different.”

Hyle grinned. “But we’re not top sharks at a consulting firm are we?”

“Not yet,” Brienne said.

Hyle laughed lightly until Brienne scratched her wrist. “I thought you hated Timers,” he said, looking surprised. “When did you get that?”

Brienne pulled at her sleeve again, internally cursing. “It’s a bracelet not a Timer.”

He startled her by grabbing her wrist and pulled up her sleeve. “Shit you have like three days left.”

Brienne ripped her arm away from his hand and glared. “Stop that.”

“You know,” he said, grinning. “I know a lot of people like to have kind of a like a last hurrah thing going on before they move on to their true love or whatever. What say me and you -”

“Ugh, forget it,” she said and he laughed.

“Kidding,” he said, before scratching at his own Timer. It wasn’t going to go off for another six years, Brienne remembered. “Just weird to see you with one.”

_ “ _ A working one? ”

Hyle shook his head. “I never said that.”

“Didn’t have to,” Brienne replied. “Now will you get out of my cubicle or do I have to kick you out?”

“Fine,” he said. “Just be careful to make sure you don’t fall in love with the new boss.”

She rolled her eyes. “Hah. Very funny.”

“Now that’d be something out of a chick flick.”

* * *

_Her third mistake was not taking Hyle’s warning seriously._

Because when the moment came, when the Timer ticked down to zero at midnight the night before, she never thought it would beep while looking into the VP of Operations’ beautiful green eyes.

“Wha-” she said, dropping her coffee all over herself. She was wearing her favorite pair of black slacks in an attempt to impress her true love, _her soulmate_ , and now they were ruined.

Everyone in the office was staring. Somewhere, Hyle was laughing so hard it sounded like he was nearly choking.

The VP, Jaime Lannister, just kept staring at her, his mouth agape and cruel. When she stopped apologizing to everyone for the noise and the disruption, his eyes narrowed at her. “Who are you?” was the first thing he asked.

She turned red. “Brienne Tarth, Deputy Manager of -”

He stopped her halfway. “I don’t - I can’t -” he said, right before turning from her abruptly and leaving the room.

Brienne wasn’t sure what to do as her entire office stared at her, slack-jawed.

“Get back to work,” she told them. 

“That guy is her soulmate?” she heard someone that sounded like Ronnet Connington. She hated him. She wished she could fire him but he was too damn good at his job. “If you didn’t know Timers were a load of bullshit before you know now.”

Brienne’s face flamed up before she could stop it and when she thought no one was paying attention, she fled the office for the bathroom, hoping she could at least repair her pants.

But toilet paper and crappy paper towels weren't enough to remove the stain. Exhausted from the effort, Brienne looked at herself in the mirror. She understood why Mr. Lannister fled. This was the best she looked in months ( _ she had tried so hard this morning to look pretty _ ) and she still looked terrible - her freckles were too prominent, her mouth was too big and so were her eyes and nose. Everything about her was just too big. Hands, feet, shoulders - there was no end to her.

She placed her hands on her face to calm herself and so did not see Jaime Lannister in the mirror until she opened them again and he was right behind her. Without a moment’s hesitation, she punched him in the jaw, forgetting who he was in the meanwhile. When memory returned, Mr. Lannister was on the cold tile of the floor, groaning, and grabbing his jaw. 

_This punch was her fourth mistake._ “Shit, hells, woman, I was coming in to apologize!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Mr. Lannister!” Brienne repeated, trying to help him off the floor. “I thought you were just some guy about to attack - but... what what are you doing in the woman’s bathroom?”

“Looking for you, I just said that, hells, ow, fuck.” 

“Stop cursing.”

“Stop punching people! And for the love of the Seven, the name is Jaime.”

Glaring at him helped temper the fact that they were, according to the most accurate device in the universe, soulmates. Brienne was relieved to not think about it although it seemed Jaime was beginning to remember again. He let go of her hand quickly after getting up. 

Brienne felt the sting of rejection more than she wanted to. 

“I am sorry,” he said. “I was just expecting to meet...  _ you or whoever _ ... after work. Not in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Well, I knew it’d be in the middle of the week, but-”

Brienne sensed he would talk her ear off if she didn’t stop him. “I understand, Mr. Lannister,” she said quickly. “Let’s just ignore it for now. It doesn’t have to change our work environment, although we should probably let HR know just in case.”

“HR won’t care unless we’re fucking.”

Brienne flinched and he laughed. “How in the world are we soulmates?” he wondered out loud.

“I don’t even think these things work,” she said, looking away from him to stare at her Timer.

When she looked back up at him, he smiled at her. “Then why did you get one?” Mr. Lannister asked.

“My father asked me to. I’m all he has left and... I was tired of arguing with him about it.”

Mr. Lannister put a hand through his hair and Brienne was surprised by how the silvery gray hairs complimented the golden ones. “I get that. That wasn’t my reasoning, but that’s how I got mine - how many years ago? I can’t even remember.”

“Yours has been blank the whole time then?”

“What the hell else you think it’s been?” he asked, with little malice. Brienne wondered what a blank Timer would have been like. And now... after all his years of waiting... he got  _ her _ . “Can we please discuss this later, however, when we’re not in a women’s bathroom in the middle of the day?  _ At work _ ?”

“Fine, Mr. Lannister,” she said, as formally as she could. Formalities would fix this, she thought. “Although it’s not  _ my _ fault that  _ we’re _ in a women’s bathroom in the middle of the day.”

“I know, I’m the pervert. The pervert who is asking you, once again, to call him Jaime.”

Brienne stared at him, almost annoyed to see that she was taller. Why couldn’t her soul mate be taller than herself? It was the one physical thing she wanted. 

Then again, he was perfect-looking in every other way to the point where Brienne felt almost as bad as she did in middle school, when she towered over everyone, student and teacher alike. “Goodbye, Mr. Lannister.”

“I know where you work!” he said as she left him in the bathroom.

* * *

_The fifth mistake was agreeing to go out with Hyle after her disastrous incident with Mr. Lannister._ Hyle plied her with wine and breadsticks and Brienne, for a moment, felt happy. Hyle made her laugh and smile to the point where Brienne forgot that her teeth desperately needed braces.

That was until she saw Jaime Lannister come into the same restaurant. 

“Oh no,” she said and Hyle looked over. His returning gaze was sympathetic - or at least she thought until he spoke. “I guess that means I’m out of the game then?”

“What game?” she asked, but he shook his head.

“Never mind, Brienne. You should really patch things up with your soulmate.”

Brienne wanted to. She wanted to do the right thing and apologize. But she couldn’t get up to say anything because on her boss’ arm was the most beautiful woman Brienne had ever seen, with golden hair and skin and the most proportioned body. 

And while she was staring at the woman, Jaime saw her.

“We’ll join that table,” Brienne saw Jaime mouth to the host and suddenly Jaime and his date were next to her and Hyle.

“Jaime, this isn’t what I had in mind for dinner,” the beautiful woman said, her eyes tearing apart Brienne. 

Jaime ignored the woman to stare at Brienne, a strange smile creasing his features. “This is my sister, Cersei,” he said. 

Hyle grinned. “Really now? Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Cersei stared coldly back and Hyle’s smile retreated. 

Jaime wasn’t watching them, Brienne realized,  _ he was watching her.  _ For what kind of reaction, Brienne wasn’t sure. “Cersei, this is Brienne Tarth and, well I don’t know his name -”

“Hyle Hunt,” Hyle interjected.

“And yes, Hyle Hunt.” Jaime’s eyes were swallowing Brienne whole and she wanted to stop looking - but she couldn’t. “Now, sister, Brienne is apparently my soulmate so play nice.”

His sister laughed. “You’re kidding me.”

“No.” To Brienne's surprise, Jaime didn't sound bitter, just matter-of-fact.

“Jaime, this is why you never should have bought one of those stupid things. Father hates that thing and is still angry for you for getting it. He says it’s rubbish.”

“And yet this rubbish has a 100% success rate,” Jaime replied, looking away from Brienne to look at his sister instead. “So I’ll stick with the rubbish.”

“You were always too romantic,” Cersei sneered. 

“This is really something I don’t need to hear,” Brienne interrupted before Jaime could continue arguing. “We’re still only work colleagues.”

“So you’re not telling HR about us then?” Jaime’s attention was back on hers again. Brienne felt trapped. 

Actually, she was trapped, between Hyle and Jaime in the stupid half-circular booth. “I haven’t yet.”

Jaime’s gaze was hard to read and was only lifted by the waiter coming to take their orders.

Somehow, Hyle saved the day by telling Jaime about office gossip and shenanigans. Brienne kept quiet, as did Cersei, who seemed to be watching Brienne with a careful gaze ever since her brother’s defense of the Timer. 

Jaime did not pay nearly as much attention to Brienne and she was surprised by how disappointed she was by this. Still, his leg would sometimes drift near hers under the table and when he would lean in to say something to Hyle, she could feel his breath near hers. 

Brienne was sure he knew what he was doing when he did this and was also sure Cersei could see her face turn red from the attention, but she wasn’t sure how to stop it. 

And also wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

* * *

She didn’t see or hear from Jaime for another month. His headquarters was at King’s Landing while their offices were situated in the Saltpans.

Brienne was sure that he wasn’t going to come back now that he knew that his ugly soulmate lived and worked here. She tried to explain that to Renly when he came over for movie night but he barely listened, preferring to advise her on makeovers and techniques to make her waist look slimmer.

So she stopped telling others about her problems and focused on her work again, even ignoring Hyle when he tried to speak to her. 

She felt lonelier than she had before the Timer and she was quite afraid of her father’s reaction if she didn’t marry or fall in love with Jaime Lannister. And she knew she wouldn’t. He was beautiful but that was all he was. 

But her father was already so disappointed when he had heard it wasn’t love at first sight for her, she wasn’t sure how she was going to tell him that she’d never marry the guy. 

The first contact from Jaime post Awkward Dinner took place in the form of a work email. It had been sent only to her and it seemed actually quite pressing so Brienne took care of it promptly and emailed Jaime back.

He thanked her and then asked how her day was going. 

Somehow, from that, a conversation was sprung, and it almost wasn’t too surprising to see him come into the office two days later, looking fresh and determined as he came over to her desk. 

“Let’s go out to lunch,” he said.

* * *

_ The sixth mistake was reporting the situation to HR before they went out to lunch. _

“I cannot believe what a goody-two shoes you are!” Jaime said.

Brienne glared. “I am not the one who asked out the other to lunch in front of everyone!”

“It was a friendly lunch!” he said. “I’m not attracted to you enough for it to be a date.”

Brienne kicked him.

“Ow!”

“This is why we’re glad you’ve come in,” Samwell Tarly, the HR manager said, coughing. “This is a very unusual situation and uhm, violence does not help it, Ms. Tarth.”

Brienne was abashed. “Sorry.”

Jaime snorted. “No, she’s not.”

“Now, while there are no cases of this particular issue before, we have allowed supervisors to date employees - just with some supervision -”

“Are you going to watch us fuck then?”

Samwell turned pink and shifted his sleeve enough for Brienne to notice he was wearing a time-out Timer. “No! Nothing like that! And I thought you said you weren’t attracted to Ms. Tarth - but I suppose that must have been a lie since you Timed out together.”

Jaime, who had been looking at her, looked away then. Brienne tried not to wonder about this and instead asked, “Excuse me, is that your own Timer there?” 

Samwell beamed. “Beeped two years ago. Now I’m happily married. We didn’t get together right away but we were good friends very quickly. That’s why I understand that you may be having some slight, common difficulties.”

Jaime snorted again. 

Samwell continued, unperturbed. “There are some good Timer therapists I can recommend you to, they’re experts in their field and I think they could really help you both -”

“I come from one of the richest, snottiest families in the world and you think a little therapy will help me and the woman who looks like a man and acts like she has a stick up her ass at all times get together?” Jaime asked, glaring. “No, it won’t. She’s also too young for me. This will not work.”

Brienne stared, too angry to feel hurt. “It won’t work because you’ve been a giant ass to me since the day our Timers beeped. You can blame your family or my looks or my age all you want, but I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You did punch me.”

“You came out of nowhere!”

“This is why I suggested the therapist,” Samwell said weakly.

* * *

The therapist didn’t work either.

It was only when Tyrion Lannister, Jaime’s younger ( _ and much better looking _ , Tyrion said to Brienne upon introduction with a large wink) brother suggested they punch their feelings out through boxing that they figured a way to speak to each other post-workout.

Boxing was something Brienne had always enjoyed and was actually secretly pleased when she discovered Jaime liked it too.

Because, despite all the fights and mean words directed at her, she was really hoping this would work out. She didn't want to be part of the one soulmate relationship that didn’t work out - s he didn’t want to be part of the .0000000000000000000001%. 

_ She didn’t want to disappoint her father. _

Jaime didn’t care what his father thought of him. At least that’s what he told Brienne when she spoke of her own fears after they finished boxing out the day’s frustration. She suspected that Jaime did very much care what his father thought, but already knew better than to say that to him.

Jaime handed her the water bottle after he was finished and smiled. 

The real smile he sometimes showed her made her heart skip and made her wish all over again that they would work - for less selfless reasons than not wanting to disappoint her father. “I’m sorry I’m not what you wanted,” she said without meaning to.

Jaime nearly jumped when she spoke. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not a pretty girl like the ones you’re used to in  _ your world _ ,” Brienne gestured. “Like your sister.” 

Jaime rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t disappointed when I met you.”

Brienne folded her arms over her chest. “Then what were you?”

“Afraid.”

Brienne dropped the water bottle. Half of the water bottle was flowing over shoe now, but she paid it no mind. “What?”

“I was afraid of ruining it all and what did I promptly do?” He smiled ruefully. “I ruined it.” 

“But you’re not into me,” Brienne corrected. “I was a disappointment.”

Jaime eyes met hers and she wondered what he was thinking. “You were different than what I was expecting, “ he said. “But I’m also not sure what I was expecting. I suppose I was suspecting someone like my sister only because she was the only girl I’ve ever really been friends with - and you have to be friends with your soulmate.”

“You need more friends.”

He laughed and suddenly Brienne realized he was closer than before. He was leaning up into her space. Her personal bubble was popping. “Probably. But so do you.”

“I have friends.”

Jaime’s lips were very close to hers. “I’m trying to kiss you now, so please stop talking -” 

Brienne backed away.

_ This was her last mistake.  _

Jaime blinked at her and she shrunk. “I’m sorry,” she said, not sure why she was apologizing. “But..”

“I insulted you.”

Brienne nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She was surprised by how much hurt his face showed when backed away. 

They stood there in silence, staring at one another. “I should leave,” Jaime finally said, rubbing his Timer aimlessly.

Brienne spoke then, not eager to see him disappear. “Why did you get the Timer?”

Jaime’s eyes met hers. “My sister had it right. I’m a romantic. The rest of my family sneers at the idea, but I knew I’d only be happy with someone who was made for me.” His smile was rueful. “I’m selfish that way.”

“I didn’t get one for years because I was afraid there would be no one for me,” Brienne blurted out. 

He stared at her. “I had nothing on mine for many years so I can tell you - that’s a valid fear.”

“You didn’t think you had one?”

“It was blank for nearly a decade. I gave up after year four, to be honest. That was when it said the majority of people had Timers. I expected that my soulmate died or something before she could get hers. Or that I didn’t have one.”

Brienne licked her lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said and then smirked. “Actually, I suppose it is your fault.”

She punched him on the shoulder, although it wasn’t hard enough to hurt. “I am sorry,” she said again.

“Not as sorry as I am,” he said. “For how I acted before.”

“That was months ago,” she said as though it had been six months rather than two. “It’s fine.”

“Then can I kiss you already?”

Brienne’s heart caught in her throat as she looked down at him. She always thought Renly was the most attractive man she’d ever meet until she saw Jaime. “Yes,” she said, hoping she would not regret it, hoping that the Timer wasn’t an elaborate joke to get her. 

And then he kissed her and she knew it was no joke. His fingers found their way through her hair and without thinking she grabbed his waist. Their lips parted and their tongues met and Brienne knew she never wanted to kiss anyone else but Jaime ever again.

It felt like they had been kissing for years when they parted from one another, panting like dogs and grinning madly. Brienne wondered if she had ever smiled so widely in her life. It took all her effort not to cover her mouth and hide it from view. 

He kissed her once more, before releasing her, smirking at her blushes.

“Do you think we would have liked each other - been soulmates - even without the Timer telling us?” Brienne asked, trying not to rub her wrist.

“I think so,” Jaime laughed, “but I’ve told you before. I’m a romantic."

She rolled her eyes but wasn't very surprised when he grabbed her chin to kiss her again. This time she didn't blush or smile, she just kissed him back.

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: I forgot to mention earlier, probably because I was so tired when I originally posted this, that this story is based off the film TiMER, which is a really cute indie romcom so watch it if you ever get the chance!


End file.
